Thursday, January 24, 2013

Stray Dogs Menace

We often hear views from animal activists - of whom I consider to be one - of the need for stray dogs to be caught, sterilised and placed back into the streets to live out their existence.

It's a term that is called trap, neuter and release or TNR.

Some Malaysian activists have added the letter "M" to include management of stray animals.

What this means they claim is that the dogs that a released are "looked after" by the community.

Whether this is actually being done locally is doubt. Its efficacy, seriously questioned.

Canines in a local pound

The very thought of the idea of TNRM in Malaysia is a living nightmare for local councils whose job it is to control the stray population in order to avoid a health hazard to the general public.

Proponents of TNRM have argued that such practises have been successful in "overseas countries such as in India."

Is that really true?

Well, here is a story that I picked up on BBC Online that provides some startling facts about strays living in communities.

Although it is dated almost a year ago, I can only imagine that the situation is much worse now than when it was first reported.

Readers' views are most welcome.

BBC ONLINE: 13 March 2012Last updated at 03:07 GMT

Why stray dogs are Kashmir's latest threat

By Baba UmarSrinagar

Officials say there are more than 90,000 stray dogs in Srinagar alone

The
streets of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir,
have witnessed much killing in the past two decades of conflict.
However, as the violence has ebbed, residents are facing an unusual enemy - stray dogs.
The canines have been storming its streets, chasing cars,
pulling down bicycle riders and often attacking pedestrians and school
children. In some cases, even soldiers patrolling the streets have
become their target.

Health authorities say 53,925 people - mostly children - have
been bitten by stray dogs in the 10 districts of Indian-administered
Kashmir in the past four years.

Some of the victims have died of rabies. Records at
Srinagar's Anti-Rabies Clinic show 12 dog bite-related deaths in the
last three years alone.

Things have become so bad that the Jammu and Kashmir State
Human Rights Commission has described dog attacks as "violation of
human rights".'Terrible'
Mudasir Ahmad Wangnoo, a 12-year-old student, is one of the latest victims.
One evening in January, he was attacked by almost two dozen stray dogs, biting him nearly 125 times.

The dogs injured his neck, face and windpipe. Doctors found
perforations caused by the bites in his heart that caused
pneumopericardium- a medical condition in which air enters the heart.

Mudasir Ahmad Wangnoo was attacked by two dozen stray dogs

Syed Sajad Hussain, 40, who rescued Mudasir from the dogs, said the attack was "extremely terrible".

"The incident was similar to one you must have seen on Animal Planet - dozens of hyenas kill a helpless beast," he said.

Fortunately Mudasir survived the attack, but others such as
four-year-old Sehrab Wagay of south Kashmir's Pulwama, succumbed to
rabies last August after being bitten by feral dogs.
"The danger is real," warns Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman, Director of
the Health Department . "On our side we are quick at providing
anti-rabies drugs to hospitals and anti-rabies clinics but municipal
authorities must act."

A count by the municipality found more than 90,000 stray dogs
in Srinagar city. There has been no survey in the rest of the region,
where dog bite cases outnumber those in Srinagar.

Unofficial estimates and local NGOs put the number of dogs in
the valley at more than a million, triggering fears of increasing
dog-man conflict in the next few years if the dog population is not
checked.

Recently, people in the city staged a protest demanding a cull of stray dogs.

Noted poet Zareef Ahmad Zareef, who led the protest march,
told the BBC that after years of "failure", the government had very
little time to act now.

"We have given the authorities a deadline of a few weeks to
end the canine menace. Once it finishes the civil society will handle it
of its own," says Mr Zareef, whose brother had to be given 40
anti-rabies injections after being attacked by stray dogs.

"The government and animal right activists feel we are subhumans."

Caught between animal rights activists, who believe that the
stray dogs should be sterilised, and irate residents, who want the dogs
to be killed, the city's municipality has been grasping for a solution.

'Noise'
They have planned dog shelters, but residents of the areas
where the pounds are proposed have protested, saying that they "won't
tolerate the noise of thousands of barking dogs," says municipal
official Fayaz Ahmad Bala. The municipality is now planning to sterilise
dogs.

There are over 90,000 stray dogs in Srinagar

The stray dog menace has also reached Dachigam wildlife park, home to the hangul, an endangered Kashmiri stag.

Last month, Kashmiri Governor NN Vohra reportedly directed
the police to take "immediate action" to remove dogs from inside the
national park where a paramilitary security bunker is located.

The armed forces have often been accused by locals of using
the dogs as a "first line of security" in the dark against suspected
insurgents or protesters.

The municipality's website even accuses troops of feeding
dogs. Civil rights groups also say the troops are "consciously feeding
canines" and increasing their population to be used as a "tool of
surveillance".

However, paramilitary spokesman Mohasin Shahid rejected the
allegations saying: "Stray dogs are nuisance to troops as well. If dogs
sneak in our camps it doesn't mean we feed them or encourage their
breeding."

Even the army said recently that the dogs were posing
problems for them as well, after one of their soldeirs was injured in a
dog attack.

Meanwhile, residents of Srinagar and across much of the rest
of Indian-administered Kashmir continue to live in fear of the stray
dogs.

Baba Umar is a journalist with Tehelka magazine

TOMORROW: MEET GAY RIGHTS CHAMPION THILAGA

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